Second attempt submitting a post. Marquest, Wow, you weren't kidding when you said Petunia seeds germinated..Your 'denia plant is filled with beautiful, purple Petunias. One year, Petunia seeds dropped in my citrus. The seeds germinated in winter, but nowhere as nice as yours. Or filled as yours. Mine had three pink blooms. Do you add dry or fresh fir needles in your plants? Where is the Gardenia trunk??? PM, The Fragrant Forum has a ton of information on hardy and tropical Gardenias. Some threads are passion-packed...when a member is having problems with their 'denias. PM, don't get me wrong, I love computers. Electronics in general..Example, light bulbs. :) But, I feel our society is too dependant on the net. As a child we 'walked' to the library. I do admit researching online is much easier than dressing, walking, then sorting through a zillion books to find information on one particular subject. So, guess I'm a little old-fashioned. lol I love reading, but refuse to get Kindle. Amazon emails weekly, reminding me this electronic device exists. My dh makes fun when another email comes in. Especially since I spend so much time online. Guess I'm a hypocrate...lol Logee's! In the mid-90's, I ordered from Logee's religiously. Back then, plants were shipped in 4" pots, well-rooted, and shipping wasn't all that much, though it was higher than other nurseries. Problem was, I didn't know of other nurseries. Don't know if Logee's sold my name, but I started getting catalogs from other nurseries. Two of my favorites were Stokes Tropicals and Mellinger's. Nowadays, you'd have to get a loan to order from Stoke's, and Mellinger's went out of business, in the early 2000's. Back to Logee's. In early 2000's, they changed. Plants were shipped in 2"-2.5" pots, barely rooted. Shipping outrageous. Via one order I bought a citrus. If you ever saw a photo of Logee's citrus, you'd be placing an order. What arrived was a 3" stick. Oh, crap happens. So, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. A couple orders later, plants were arriving in awful condition. I finally phoned. Customer Service Reps are very nice and helpful. They sent a replacement plant which arrived large, well-rooted. Why didn't they send a plant that nice in the first place? After another order or two, I said, heck with this nursery. Their over-priced plants aren't worth it. I can get the same plant on Ebay or most online stores, for half the price, and much larger in size. I will admit. I ordered a Thanksgiving Cactus, 'Aspen,' that's impossible to locate. A seller on Ebay sold Aspen cuttings. He made a small fortune. One buyer paid $94 and change plus shipping. So, I ordered the TC and a Begonia from Logee's. My bill was over 30.00. Anyway, that's the Logee's story. lol You sure are experienced with plants. Perhaps, one day, you can give me some outdoor garden tips. Because of back/knee problems, the last two years our garden has been duds. Weeds do fine though. lol. Well, let's say I've been growing indoor plants at least 25-yrs. I first got hooked as a child, when we'd go to my aunt's farm in MI. My MOTHER didn't allow plants indoors, but I managed to sow veggie seeds at 11-yrs. My first house plants were given to me as gifts when I moved out of the house at 18. They died..too much lovin'. PM, it's really nice talking to you. Mike...here you are.... Gardenia's are like the old saying...a watched pot never boils..Mike,, you must stop watching. :) Oke-e-doke, once your 'denia produces, you owe us a photo or two. Hugs, Toni PS: PM, please don't take offense regarding Excel. :_

Using soil from outside in the garden might create a drainage issue when placed in a pot as it can get soggy and waterlogged, which gardenias do not like at all. I would repot with a peat based balanced mixture of potting soil with added vermiculite or perlite to help with drainage. Place gravel or chips in the bottom of the pot for added drainage then place the soil on top of that. When established top off with coffee grinds, tea grinds and use an acid loving plant fertilizer. Place the pot on top of a planter tray full of rocks or something so the drainage water doesn't touch the bottom of the pot but can evaporate and help with humidity. When gardenias get these spots and blotches on their leaves it's not really something that can "heal" - you may just want to prune the plant back somewhat and remove some of the dead growth to encourage new growth and bushiness. This may sound silly but I am of the opinion that gardenias are a lot like people - they can be very particular, they like clean, sterile surroundings and also very much respond unkindly to change in any capacity, especially harsh environmental conditions. But if you meet their needs they can be very rewarding. :)

Hi Toni I'm sorry to hear about the bad news on flooded basements and about your lost in the basement. I hope everything gets better soon for everyone and that everyone gets their electric back soon. I will say a prayer so that god helps everyone and things get better soon I'm just looking for a book that has info on gardenias as well as other plants like roses, palm trees and basil. Toni: how do you take care of your gardenias? I see that your gardenias look good. I want to know what care do you give them to see if It helps me with this gardenia thats giving me a headace May be you can spray the garden safe 3 and 1 fungicide it controls spiders and mites. LOL about the rabbit. may be it's a cat that might be eatting the leaves of your plant. all my gardenias expect one is doing great. I have 7 gardenias one is in between and the other 6 are doing great. I do have a rose that looks sick. can you give me some advice on how to take care of rose plants please? I think you still could feed your gardenia until november. I water the gardenias with de-still water since I have hard tap water and I hear that is bad for them and makes their leaves go yellow. Take Care Richie

Definitely buds. I use pine fines and additional perlite added to my gardenia potting soil. They really like a chunky mix. Here in Florida, Lowes and now, some walmarts, carry a potting mix called Jungle Growth, which is perfect for tropicals. I use it as a base for all my tropicals and other some other plants, depending what I add to it. It has a chunkier/looser mix than Miracle Grow which is mostly peat. I don't know if they carry Jungle Growth on the west coast or not. Walmarts carry pine fines in the garden section for a reasonable price. I have also used the smaller Orchid Bark added into potting mixes with good results. It sometimes has bits of charcoal in it but I have never had any problems with it. Gardenias do like to be mulched so you could add some pine fines or chunkier wood chips to the top of your pot. They like the roots a little cooler. If you are going to have the pot on a concrete patio you can get one of those little pieces of cork and cuts out some little 'feet' for your pot being careful not to block the drainage holes. This keeps the roots from getting too hot. I used that method in Lake Havasu City, AZ where it got insanely hot and our yard was mostly gravel and cement. I also had a misting system set up for my plants and shade cloth. I had gingers and bananas flowering in the desert :) As mentioned, Miracle Grow for Alzaleas etc is a good fertilizer. My gardenias like a little fish fertilizer once in a while too. They also love to be topped with Vermicompost in the spring. Apparently, "back-in-the-day" people in the south dumped the chamber pots/night soil on their Gardenias and they flourished lol. They do seem to respond well to organic fertilizers. I use composted chicken and rabbit manures on them and the other plants here. Good advice on not using a saucer under your pots. Sure death for gardenias. In a dry hot climate, they might appreciate a little filtered afternoon shade. The humidity is less in dry climates so plants that like humidity get more intense light and can burn easier. Here, I can put many things in full sun that I could not in AZ or parts of So Cal when I lived there. There are some good videos on You Tube on Gardenia care if you do a search on that site. ~Sjn